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Black Forest fire victims were members of Air Force Space Command

By Sadie Gurman and Yesenia RoblesThe Denver Post

Posted:
06/18/2013 10:11:36 AM MDT

Updated:
06/19/2013 09:14:31 AM MDT

Homeowner Amy Feik, right, gets a hug from Monika Hannan, a public health psychologist with El Paso County on Tuesday at the property she lived on with boyfriend Robert Runyard, left. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Andrew Thompson, of the El Paso County Sheriff's department, checks the IDs of residents before letting them cross a roadblock at the intersection of Wildridge and Herring Roads. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

BLACK FOREST — A husband and wife who died while trying to flee the Black Forest fire last week were longtime members of Air Force Space Command, officials said Tuesday.

A co-worker said they died trying to protect firefighters by removing ammunition and propane tanks from their home and loading them into their car.

The victims were identified by the El Paso County Sheriff's office as Marc Allen Herklotz, 52, and his wife, Robin Lauran Herklotz, 50.

Their bodies were found in the garage of their home on Jicarilla Drive in Black Forest, near the area where investigators believe the fire began. Officials said the doors of their car were open and it appeared they were trying to evacuate. The home sat on a heavily wooded 2.6-acre lot, according to county records.

Investigators spoke to someone who talked to the victims by phone at about 5 p.m. on June 11, just hours after the fire started, Sheriff Terry Maketa said last week. In the background of the phone call, the person could hear popping sounds.

"All indications on scene is that they were planning on leaving quickly," Maketa said.

Neighbors Bob and Barbara Schmidt told The Associated Press that they last saw the Herklotzes about 4:35 p.m. The Schmidts said the Herklotzes told them they had not received an automated evacuation call but were packing and "they'd leave when they needed to."

Identification of the bodies was difficult because the fire burned for several days in that area at about 2,500 degrees, Maketa said Tuesday. The bodies were identified through a cooperative effort by the El Paso County coroner's office and a forensic dentist.

Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Jeff Kramer said investigators have learned little about the circumstances of the couple's deaths.

"The coroner had very little in the way of remains to work with," he said.

James Wing, a co-worker and friend of the couple, described them as happy and inseparable.

"It's a small consolation for those that knew them that they were together in the end, but it would not have been a small consolation to them," Wing said.

Wing said Marc was a radio-control enthusiast like his father, and had rare and impressive model airplanes hanging in his office where he worked writing intelligence software for the Air Force.

In their death, Wing said he learned the couple was thinking of the safety of firefighters first, likely causing them to take too long to evacuate when the fire was approaching.

"Marc was a shooting enthusiast and he had lots of ammunition and also propane tanks," Wing said. "A neighbor saw them loading them, trying to remove all of it, so that it wouldn't pose a danger to firefighters."

A son of the couple is on tour in Afghanistan, Wing said.

An Air Force news release said Marc Herklotz served in the Air Force from 1983-87 and worked as a civilian employee in the Innovation Division of Space Command's Air, Space and Cyberspace Operations Directorate. Robin Herklotz was an Air Force contractor.

"Both were longtime members of Air Force Space Command, supporting critical air, space and cyberspace operational missions from offices on Schriever Air Force Base," the release said.

The fire began at about 2 p.m. on June 11 in Black Forest north of Colorado Springs, and it quickly raced through ponderosa pine and shrub oak.

It has burned 14,280 acres and destroyed 509 homes. Maketa said there are still 937 homes and 9,830 acres under the mandatory evacuation order. About 2,600 people remain out of their homes; at the high point of the fire, almost 40,000 people were evacuated.

As of Tuesday evening, the fire was 85 percent contained.

As people return, Maketa said to remember those who no longer have homes.

"We need to not lose sight of those who lost every memory they ever created," he said.

The cause of the fire has not been determined. Maketa has said investigators believe it was human-caused and are narrowing in on a point of origin. He said Tuesday that area is 40 feet square.

"It's certainly something you do not rush," Maketa said. "It is important to determine if the fire was caused accidentally or intentionally."

Runyard is admittedly sentimental, but he held his cool as he bounded down the winding roads of Black Forest for his first glimpse of the rubble and wreckage he once called home.

The skeletal trees and charred rolling hills offered further proof of what he already knew: The house on Swan Road had become part of the landscape. A lone brick wall, streaked black with smoke, jutted out like a beacon.

"This is my neighborhood," he said. "What a mess."

Camera in hand and girlfriend Amy Feik by his side, he took stock of the remains: a pile of blackened nails from inside a melted bucket, a motorcycle helmet that crumbled at the touch, a Subaru station wagon, mangled and gutted.

"My first souvenir!" Runyard said, grabbing its license plate from the ground. The numbers had burned off.

But, at least for the moment, Runyard didn't flinch. The veteran was "back in battle mode."

"I saw parts of Kuwait like this," he said, sifting through the ashes of his two-story barn. He'd lived in the home since 1986. He designed it himself and made many upgrades.

"I'll cry when you leave," he said.

The couple wandered further into the disorienting landscape. They uncovered the twisted remains of rifles, a battered washing machine.

"The wheelbarrow is still there!" Feik yelled.

"This is the hose!" Runyard shouted.

"Oh my God, do you remember when I took a pottery class and made a little bowl?" Feik said pulling it from the rubble. Later, a shattered coffee mug made her smile.

"Every object you find has a story," Runyard said. "Some of the things I thought would survive the fire didn't, but I guess that's not surprising."

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